UC reworks sex crime policy to comply with feds

University of California has revamped its sexual violence policy to comply with new federal law requirements. The policy expands the types of crimes campuses must report to the government, requires schools to better inform students of their rights and eases the evidence threshold for cases handled administratively.

UC Irvine has had a local policy for several years that included some of the federal additions, said Kirsten Quanbeck, UCI’s Title IX/Sexual Harassment officer. But one significant change at UCI is that faculty and staff are now included with students in the sexual violence policy, Quanbeck said.

UC system wide, cases handled through schools administratively now only need a preponderance of evidence to find a suspect in violation of the university’s sexual assault policy, as opposed to the previously higher “clear and convincing” proof requirement. That was already UCI's policy, Quanbeck said.

Victims choose whether to pursue their cases administratively or through the UC Irvine Police Department and the criminal justice system.

Congress’s re-authorization of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, together with the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act, now requires universities to include reports of dating violence, domestic violence and stalking in the data they send to the federal government annually under the Jeanne Clery Act. Schools had to come into compliance with the changes in March.

“We’ll be capturing more of the crimes, though there are still limitations,” said Mandy Mount, director of UC Irvine’s Campus Assault Resources and Education office. Students who choose to speak confidentially are outside the scope of reporting, as are incidents that occur at student residences outside the campus boundary, she said.

Publicly-available sexual assault statistics for UC Irvine, which has about 28,000 students and 10,000 full and part-time faculty and staff, show that:

In 2010, two forcible rapes, one sexual assault with an object and two forcible fondlings were reported.

In 2011, five forcible rapes, one forcible fondling and one statutory rape were reported.

In 2012, five forcible rapes, two forcible sodomies, five forcible fondlings and one sexual assault with an object were reported.

The rising number of reports year-to-year isn’t necessarily a bad thing, said Mount. In fact, she said, it’s the opposite – and the numbers are expected to rise.

“Campuses that have low to zero sexual assault reports tend to have a culture where students fear backlash,” Mount explained. “Where you see robust numbers you can take the understanding that the campus is providing a response that is supportive, and that is understood by the student population. There is trust among students that the campus response is working,” she said.

According to a January 2014 report issued by the White House Council on Women and Girls, Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action, reporting rates for sexual assaults on campuses nationwide are very low: on average only 12 percent of student victims report the assault to law enforcement.

Mount’s UC Irvine office, known as CARE, organizes workshops on consent, healthy relationships and sexual assault and provides group counseling to survivors of sexual violence. Students can walk in or call to make an appointment for a confidential consultation with an expert trained in handling assault, intimate partner violence and gender issues.

There are several options when reporting a policy violation at UCI. The UCI Police Department and The Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (Title IX) both take complaints and conduct investigations.

With UCIPD, officers file a report with the complainant’s account of events and include any evidence the individual can provide. Female officers are on hand for those who express a preference, and if there is a known person of interest the department will mount an investigation, officials said. UCIPD can also transport victims to the hospital for care or collection of physical evidence.

If the department determines that a crime took place, the file is sent to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, who then decides whether there is enough evidence to prosecute.

Students can also choose to report the incident internally to the OEOD/Title IX office, where Quanbeck serves as Associate Vice Chancellor of Equity and Diversity. The OEOD conducts an administrative investigation to determine whether a violation of campus policy took place.

The process allows both parties to be informed of allegations and to provide testimony and documentation, explained Quanbeck. “We try very hard to act as the initial fact finder, and make sure what we find is based on facts and credible sources,” she said.

The office then makes a policy determination before sending the file to the Office of Student Conduct, who is the final decision maker on sanctions to be enacted, said Quanbeck.

While in the past cases handled internally may not have ended up being reported to the government due to differences between campus policy and federal definitions, the new expanded categories under the Clery Act actively combat this under-reporting and will show a clearer, more specific picture of sexual, dating, and domestic violence on campuses nationwide.

UC students statewide have called for third party investigations of cases to eliminate a campus’s reputation as a possible conflicting factor in the review process.

The Irvine campus has instituted a special task force in recent years that ensures all officials with major oversight of sexual assault cases are aware of each report, Mount said.

“If a student wants to change their residence hall, or rearrange a class, we try to make sure we are all doing everything we can to accommodate those needs,” said Quanbeck.

“The number of students that have sought support confidentially and then decided to follow through with a formal complaint, either through the university or campus police, has increased over time as our collaborations have become more effective with all the offices involved,” Mount said.